Parental combination method for breeding purple dotted peony

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for breeding purple dotted peony. 530 excellent peony varieties were obtained through parent selection, hybridization and screening. The flowers of these varieties have bright colors and pleasant fragrance. These varieties exhibit strong hardiness.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of flower breeding techniques, particularly the present invention relates to the parental combination method for breeding purple dotted peony.

PRIOR ART

The peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) is a deciduous bush. It has feather-like compound leaves with stalks, and its folioles are egg-shaped or elliptic. Its flowers are usually big with deep red, pink or white colors. Peony is a famous decorative plant, whereas medical preparations made from its bark can be used as antipyretic, and can invigorate the circulation of blood and recuperate menstruation. There are many varieties of peonies, the wild type and cultivars of purple dotted peony referred to herein as Xing-long-shan peony and primitive purple dotted peony varieties, respectively, have poor colors, humdrum appearance and fragrance, low yield of bark. Both decorative value and economic value are low. Shan-dong peony and He-nan peony also have poor colors, light fragrance and are susceptible to virus and pests. Moreover, they have some other disadvantages such as weak hardiness and drooping flowers.

Although hybridization between varieties of the peony for breeding new varieties having superior characters is well known in the art, however, selection of parental combinations having potential use in breeding is very difficult.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide parental combinations useful in breeding purple dotted peonies.

The present inventor has investigated the main features and the distribution of Gan-su purple dotted peony (primitive purple dotted peony), and its status in domestic cultivation in China. Upon extensive investigation, he established the classification system of Chinese cultivated peonies, and concluded the regular pattern of feature inheritance from parent to filial generations, which is used as the guidance for carrying out cross breeding. He found that when the new purple dotted peony (F1) obtained through hybridization among the primitive purple dotted peony and between the wild type peony and the primitive purple dotted peony, which has black, brown and purple dots, thick fragrance, erect flowers with multi-colored petals, were hybridized with the Zhong-yuan peony, which has no dots, light fragrance, drooping flowers with pure and poor colors, a filial generation with more excellent characters were obtained, which has much varied dots, thick fragrance, erect flowers with rich and more varied colors. In other word, the superior characters of the new purple dotted peony is much enhanced in the filial generation of the hybridization of the new purple dotted peony and the Zhong-yuan peony. As the result of much research work within twenty years, 530 excellent peony varieties were obtained through parent selection, hybridization and screening. These new varieties include Bei-guo-feng-guang, Jin-cheng-wan-xia, Xing-long-shao-nv, Long-yuan-zhuang-shi, Bai-shang-hei-shui, Tian-shan-ri-chu, Yue-zhao-kun-lun, Qi-lian-cai-hong, Hong-xian-nv, He-ping-lan, Mai-ji-yan-yun, Lan-shan-jin-guang and He-ping-er-qiao, which have been widely planted in the areas of northeastern and northwestern part of China. They exhibit strong hardiness and great adaptability for various conditions.

Accordingly, the present invention provide a parental combination method for breeding purple dotted peonies, including firstly carrying out the hybridization among the primitive purple dotted peony and between the wild type peony and the primitive purple dotted peony, and then the resulting filial generation was hybridized with the Zhong-yuan peony.

The breeding of purple dotted peony in present invention is performed by means of single cross, reciprocal cross, three way cross and compound cross between carefully selected varieties and then directional selection in F1 or F2.

Specifically, said parental combinations include the following combinations:

1. Hybridization (single cross or reciprocal cross) among primitive purple dotted peonies such as Zhu-sha-hong, Qing-xin-bai, Da-ban-bai, Mei-gui-hong and Mei-ren-mian was carried out. Most of those primitive varieties have simple flowers, poor colors, short blooming period, tall plants, difficult for pot culture, too heavy fragrance, small leaves and high fruitification capacity that affects the blooming next year. By using parent selection, hybridization and screening, filial generations including Li-xiang, Hei-tian-e and Li-chun etc. with special variations and excellent features inherited from their parents were obtained (see example 1).

2. Hybridization (single cross or reciprocal cross) of the Xing-long-shan purple dotted peony (wild type) with primitive purple dotted peony such as Zhu-sha-hong, Meigui-hong, Da-xue-qing, Mei-ren-mian was carried out. The filial generations were improved in cold-resistance, drought-endurance, barren-endurance, pest-resistance and hardiness, with bright colored, erect flowers, and were more suitable for making bouquets. The obtained new varieties include Shu-sheng-peng-muo, Fen-he and Hong-lian etc.(see example 2).

3. Hybridization (three way cross or compound cross) of the Zhong-yuan peony (Shan-dong He-ze peony ) with the new varieties of purple dotted peonies (F1) obtained in above 1 and 2, Xue-li-cang-jin, Jin-bo-dang-yang, Shi-he-lian and Zi-gong-du-xiu, was carried out. The filial generation inherited the excellent characteristics from their parents and shown special variations. A great number of rare varieties were obtained. Both of the excellent characteristics of Shan-dong He-ze peonies such as bright and pure colors, short plants, suitable for pot cultivation, and that of the purple dotted peonies such as grand plants, rich colors, thick fragrance, strong hardiness and erect flowers, are kept and improved in those filial generations. New varieties obtained in this regard include Qin-jin-zhi-hao, Qi-lian-cai-hong, Guang-mang-si-she and Xiu-lou-dian-cui etc. (see example 3).

Seeds of the following peony varieties have been deposited with the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC) at P.O.Box 2714, Beijing 100080, P. R. China on Oct. 20, 1999 with their CGMCC numbers in parenthesis: `Guo-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.1); `Hong-lian` (CGMCC NO. 0425.2); `Zhu-sha-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.3); `Qing-xin-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.4); `Da-ban-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.5); `Mei-gui-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.6); `Mei-ren-mian` (CGMCC NO. 0425.7); `Xing-long-shan` (CGMCC NO. 0425.8); `Da-xue-qing` (CGMCC NO. 0425.9); and `Bei-guo-feng-guang` (CGMCC NO.0425.10).

EXAMPLES

The present invention will be described in detail with the following examples.

Example 1

Hybridization (single cross or reciprocal cross) among primitive varieties of purple dotted peonies such as Zhu-sha-hong, Qing-xin-ba, Da-ban-bai, Mei-gui-hong and Mei-ren-mian was carried out.

1) Qing-xin-ba×Da-ban-bai, the selected F1 was named Beiguo-feng-guang. It has big flowers with plural petal.

2) Zhu-sha-hong×Mei-gui-hong, the selected F1 was named Li-xiang. It has plural petal flowers with bright colors.

3) Zhu-sha-hong×Zhu-sha-hong, the selected F1 was named Hei-tiane. It's flowers has more melanin.

4) Mei-gui-hong×Zhu-sha-hong, the selected F1 was named Li-chun. It has advanced blooming period.

Example 2

Hybridization (single cross or reciprocal cross) between Xing-long-shan purple dotted peony (wild type) and the primitive purple dotted peonies such as Zhu-sha-hong, Mei-gui-hong, Da-xue-qing and Mei-ren-mian was carried out.

1) Xing-long-shan peony×Da-ban-bai, the selected F1 was named Shu-sheng-peng-muo. It's flowers has bigger dots which penetrated to the dorsal side of the petal.

2) Xing-long-shan peony×Mei-gui-hong, the selected F1 was named Fen-he. It has colorful flowers.

3) Xing-long-shan peony×Zhu-sha-hong, the selected F1 was named Hong-lian. It has erect flowers with long branches, which is more suitable for making bouquets.

Example 3

Hybridization (three way cross or compound cross) between Zhong-yuan peony (Shan-dong He-ze peony) and the new varieties of purple dotted peonies obtained in Example 1 and 2 such as Xue-li-cang-jin, Jin-bo-dang-yang, Shi-he-lian and Zi-gong-du-xiu was carried out.

1) Zhao-fen×Xue-liiang-jin, the selected F1 was named Qin-jin-zhi-hao. It has thick branches and big dot flowers with brown and black color, and pleasant smell.

2) Guo-hong×Jin-bo-dang-yang, the selected F1 was named Qi-lian-cai-hong. It has big flowers with brownish red dots.

3) Hong-lian×Shi-he-lian, the selected F1 was named Guang-mang-si-she. It's flowers has red ovary coat, red stigma and triangular purple dots.

4) Shan-dong No. 18×Zi-gong-du-xiu, the selected F1 was named Xiu-lou-dian-cui. It has step-shape flowers with pink color and blue-pink dots.

The present invention was made at the Peace Peony Garden in Yu-zhong town in Gan-su province. The climate conditions are: annual rainfall 348 mm, effective accumulation temperature 2500, absolute highest temperature 34.6° C., absolute lowest temperature -24.7° C., frost-free period 184 days, annual evaporative value 1700 mm. The soil is highland loess, 40-150 meters thick, serosem, pH 8.1. The attitude is 1750-1910 meters. Cultivation conditions are: irrigating 2-3 times annually, weeding and loosening the soil 34 times annually, fertilizer application one time, trimming 2 times (once in winter and once in summer). Germination takes place between March 24 and 30. The blooming period is from May 12 to 30. Maturation of the seed takes place from August 15 to September 1. Abscission of the leave takes place from October 15 to 25.

Screening of filial generations

Emasculation was carried out at a time between May 10 and 24, and pollination was carried out between May 15 and 27. The seed was harvested and sowed between August 8 and 30. Germination take place between March 25 and April 15 in the third spring after sowing. The first blooming take place between the fourth and the sixth year after germination. After blooming for three successive years, when the characters of the plant is stable, screening of the filial generation was carried out, including preliminary selection, re-selection, final selection and planting in the field.

The comparison between the new purple dotted peony varieties and the primitive varieties is shown in table 1-3.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         Comparison between primitive and filial generations                                       VARIETIES                                                                                     NEW PURPLE                                               DOTTED PEONY                                                                  PRIMITIVE PURPLE VARIETIES F1                                                  DOTTED PEONY (BEI-GUO-FENG-                                                   ITEM VARIETIES GUANG)                                                        ______________________________________                                         Plant appearance                                                                          Tall           80% tall,                                                20% medium and short                                                         Branches 95% long and slender, 20% thick and short                              5% thick and short                                                            Leaves 15 folioles, thin and 15 folioles,                                       small 20% of them grows to                                                      medium and big                                                               Buds Long and round, 15% of them are big and                                    or small and round round                                                      Flowers Erect 95% of them are erect,                                             5% of them are drooping                                                      Color Rich colors, and most of More rich and varied                             them are compound                                                              colors                                                                        Dots Black, brown and purple 10% red dots                                       dots                                                                          Fragrance Thick Thick                                                          Androecium Yellow and white, 8% brownish red,                                   slim or few filaments no filaments or petalized                               Pistil 5 carpels, yellow and More than 6 carpels,                               white, a few of them are 15% red                                               red                                                                           Seed small, high fructification 21% no seed                                     capacity                                                                      Blooming period 18 days 23 days                                              ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                         Comparison between parents and filial generations                                         VARIETY                                                                        XING-LONG-SHAN NEW PURPLE                                              PEONY DOTTED PEONY                                                            ITEM (WILD TYPE) VARIETIES F1                                                ______________________________________                                         Plant Appearance                                                                          Tall           Tall                                                   Branch Long and slender Long and thick                                         Leaves 15 folioles, thin and 5 folioles,                                        small 25% bigger than the wild                                                  type                                                                         Buds Small and thin Big and round                                              Flowers Single petal, small, Plural petal, big,                                 11 × 5 CM 16 × 8 CM                                               Color Firstly pink then White, pink, red, purple,                               becomes white blue and lilac                                                  Dots Small and black dots Big and black, purple,                                 red, brown dots                                                              Fragrance Thick Thicker or medium                                              Androecium Short filaments, Long filaments, great                               Normal anthers change in anthers                                              Pistil 5 carpels, white ovary 5 carpels, some of them                           coat and stigma are red ovary coat and                                          stigma                                                                       Seed Small, large number Big, decreased number                                 Blooming period 15 days 18 days                                              ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                         Comparison between parents and filial generations                                      VARIETY                                                                        NEW                      FILIAL                                           PURPLE DOTTED ZHONG-YUAN GENERATIONS                                          ITEM PEONIES (F1) PEONY F1, F2                                               ______________________________________                                         Plant   Tall         Short       80% tall,                                       Appearance   12% medium and                                                       8% small                                                                    Branch Long and slender Thick and short Long and thick                         Leaves Hairy leave, No hairy leave, 80% hairy                                   15 folioles, 9 folioles, leave, 85% 15                                         thin and small big and round folioles, 15% 9                                     folioles, big and                                                              round                                                                       Buds Long and round, Big and round, big and round                               or small and round                                                            Flowers Erect Drooping, erect,                                                   covered by leaves varied shape                                               Color Multi-colored Pure and poor Rich and more                                 petals, and  varied                                                            beautiful colors                                                              Dot color Black, brown and No dots The pattern of the                           purple dots  dots is much                                                        varied. Many                                                                   patterns of red                                                                dots appeared.                                                              Fragrance Thick Light Thick                                                    Androecium Yellow and white, Red and short The shapes and                       Slim filaments filaments colors is much                                          varied                                                                      Pistil 5 carpels, yellow 5 carpels, 0 to 13 carpel.                             and white brownish red The shape and                                            ovary coat color is much                                                       and stigma varied.                                                           Seed High genetic Much genetic No or high                                       conservatism, mutation and fructification                                      high fructification atavism occured, capacity. Big                             capacity, low fructification seeds                                             small seeds capacity                                                          Blooming 23 days 25 days 28 days                                               period                                                                       ______________________________________                                     

What is claimed is:
 1. A breeding method of purple dotted peonies, wherein, the hybridization among the primitive purple dotted peonies or between the wild type peonies and the primitive purple dotted peonies was firstly carried out, and then the resulting filial generation was hybridized with `Guo-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.1) or `Hong-lian` (CGMCC NO. 0425.2), wherein, said hybridization among the primitive purple dotted peonies or between the wild type peonies and the primitive purple dotted peonies is the hybridization with one of the following parental combinations:(1) hybridization among primitive purple dotted peony varieties such as `Zhu-sha-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.3), `Qing-xin-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.4), `Da-ban-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.5), `Mei-gui-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.6) and `Mei-ren-mian` (CGMCC NO.0425.7); (2) hybridization between the `Xing-long-shan` CGMCC NO. 0425.8) purple dotted peony (wild type) and the primitive purple dotted peony varieties such as `Zhu-sha-hong` (CCGMCC NO.0425.3), `Mei-gui-hong` (CGMCC NO.0425.6), `Da-xue-qing` (CGMCC NO.0425.9) and `Mei-ren-mian` (CGMCC NO. 0425.7).
 2. The breeding method according to claim 1, wherein, the hybridization among primitive purple dotted peony varieties such as `Zhu-sha-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.3), `Qing-xin-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.4), `Da-ban-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.5), `Mei-gui-hong` (CGMCC NO. 0425.6) is the hybridization with the combination of `Qing-xin-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.4)×`Da-ban-bai` (CGMCC NO. 0425.5), the selected F1 designated `Bei-guo-feng-guang` (CGMCC NO. 0425.10).
 3. A peony variety designated `Bei-guo-feng-guang` (CGMCC NO. 0425.10). 